The effects of a prosper-based intervention on well-being among pre-service preschool teachers during the covid-19 pandemic: A randomized control trial

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of an intervention program based on the PROSPER, a comprehensive framework which emphasises the importance of positivity, relationships, outcome, strength, purpose, engagement, and resilience in pre-service teachers' well-being in Hong Kong. Participants were pre-service pre-school teachers (N = 77) who participated in a 1-month randomised control trial with four intervention workshops. They were randomly assigned to either intervention (n = 40) or wait-list control conditions (n = 37). A survey with measures that assessed PROSPER well-being components was administered to participants before and after the intervention. Findings of repeated measures MANCOVA revealed no significant time x group interaction effect, Wilks' Lambda F(7, 50) = 1.66, p = .14, eta 2 = .19. Results of univariate analyses showed that a significant time x group interaction effect existed in relationship component (eta 2 = .08), indicating that the intervention was effective in facilitating pre-service pre-school teachers' positive relationships with their peers. Findings underscore the potential benefits of designing positive psychological interventions for teachers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Linking University Students' Mindfulness to Positive Adjustment Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: a 6-month Cross-Lagged Panel Design.

Objectives: In the face of a global pandemic, research on wellness-fostering resources is urgently needed, especially with longitudinal designs and diverse samples. According to the mindfulness-to-meaning theory and broaden-and-build theory, this study examined the reciprocal associations among a group of Chinese university students' trait mindfulness, positive and negative affect, and use of positive coping strategies, including positive reappraisal, planning, and seeking of emotional support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Participants were 247 Hong Kong university students (M age = 20.96, SD = 2.38; female = 86%) who completed survey measures of mindfulness, positive and negative affect, and positive coping strategies at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Data were analysed using a cross-lagged panel design, controlling for participants' age. Results: The proposed reciprocal model exhibited an excellent fit with the data. There was a reciprocal association between trait mindfulness and positive affect over time. However, no significant reciprocal effect was found among mindfulness, negative affect, and positive coping strategies. Conclusions: Theoretically, the current findings extended the two theories to a non-Western population during a critical time and suggested a long-term reciprocal association between positive affect and mindfulness. Our study provided important insight into university students' positive well-being during COVID-19 and demonstrated the wellness-fostering effect of mindfulness.

Mothers' and fathers' stress and severity of depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic: actor-partner effects with parental negative emotions as a moderator.

BACKGROUND: In the face of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, families with young children are bombarded with new challenges and stressors. This study examined the additive and interactive effects of parental stress and negative emotions during COVID-19 on parents' severity of depressive symptoms. METHODS: Participants were 221 Chinese families involving maritally intact mothers and fathers of preschool-aged children. DISCUSSION: Path analysis indicated that mothers' parental stress interacted with their negative emotions, such that their stress was related to their severity of depressive symptoms only when negative emotions were high. By comparison, fathers' stress and negative emotions were additively associated with their severity of depressive symptoms. Supporting the cumulative risk model, parental stress during COVID-19 and negative emotions were linked to parents' severity of depressive symptoms additively or interactively, depending on the gender of the parent. These findings inform practitioners about the relevance of parents' stress and negative emotions to their severity of depressive symptoms during the pandemic.

Well-Being Profiles of Pre-service Teachers in Hong Kong: Associations with Teachers' Self-Efficacy During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The present study aims to (1) identify the profiles of subjective well-being (SWB) and psychological well-being (PWB) in a sample of pre-service teachers during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong, and (2) explore how different profiles are linked with teachers' self-efficacy. Participants were 291 pre-service teachers (Mage = 21.295, SD = 2.812, female = 89.903%) who were invited to complete self-report measures of SWB, PWB, and teachers' self-efficacy. Latent profile analysis with maximum likelihood estimation was conducted to identify well-being profiles that emerged in this sample. The results suggested a 3-class model with a high, moderate, and low well-being group. The findings also revealed that the pre-service teachers' well-being profiles as reflected by SWB and PWB indicators were consistent. Moreover, the pre-service teachers in the higher well-being group reported higher teaching self-efficacy than those in the lower well-being group. Findings highlighted the benefits of supporting pre-service teachers' well-being (i.e., SWB and PWB) to maintain their teachers' self-efficacy during the COVID-19 pandemic when teacher education and practicum are significantly disrupted. Interventions targeting various positive psychological skills (e.g., mindfulness, self-compassion, and positive reappraisal) are warranted. Future investigation is needed to examine the longitudinal relationship between pre-service teachers' well-being and self-efficacy.

Prospering in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic: The effects of PROSPER-based intervention on psychological outcomes among preschool teachers.

The growing concerns regarding the risks of transmitting the COVID-19 virus have intensified the job-related stressors commonly encountered by teachers in various cultural contexts. Evidence shows how the COVID-19 crisis has negatively impacted teachers' mental health outcomes such as stress, depression, and quality of life, which highlights the significance of designing psychological programs to boost teachers' well-being. This study examined the effects of a well-being intervention based on the Positivity, Relationship, Outcomes, Strength, Purpose, Engagement, and Resilience (PROSPER) framework on well-being outcomes among 76 in-service teachers (Mage = 26.05 years, SD = 4.71, range = 20-45; female = 93.4%) in Hong Kong. Participants completed survey measures associated with the seven PROSPER outcomes at baseline and 2-month follow-up. Multivariate regression analysis indicated that there were statistically significant multivariate effects for intervention conditions, Wilks' Lambda F(7, 58) = 4.50, p = .01. Results demonstrated that teachers who were assigned to the intervention condition (n = 36) had significantly higher scores than those in the control condition (n = 40) on positivity (b = 0.41, 95% CI [0.16, 0.65], p = .01), strength (b = 0.62, 95% CI [0.23, 1.01], p = .01), purpose (b = 0.61, 95% CI [0.18, 1.04], p = .01), and resilience (b = 0.57, 95% CI [0.07, 1.07], p = .04). Our findings provide evidence on the mental health benefits of the PROSPER-based psychological intervention program for preschool teachers.

Being Hopeful and Mindful During Adversity: A Longitudinal Study on College Students' Adjustment During COVID-19.

Objectives: The current study examined whether hope and mindfulness were associated with changes in two maladjustment measures, internalizing and externalizing behaviors, during the COVID-19 pandemic and tested sense of coherence as a mediator. The salutogenic theory of health, which posits that sense of coherence is central to individuals' well-being in stressful situations and that individuals derive their sense of coherence from their generalized resistance resources (GRRs), was used to guide the analyses. Methods: On two occasions separated by about 6 months, 253 Hong Kong college students (mean age = 21.0 years at time 1; 86% of them were women) filled in online questionnaires during the COVID-19 outbreaks. Path analysis was conducted to examine the interrelationships among hope and mindfulness, sense of coherence, and internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Results: Results indicated that hope and mindfulness at time 1 were associated with internalizing and externalizing behaviors at time 2, even after controlling for confounding variables and prior levels of internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Moreover, sense of coherence at time 1 significantly mediated these associations. Conclusions: Findings pointed to the potential roles of hope, mindfulness, and sense of coherence in understanding Chinese college students' adjustment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Future research is needed to test whether sense of coherence and behavioral adjustment can be promoted through hope- and mindfulness-based intervention programs. Future research is also needed to examine the interrelationships among health-promoting assets, sense of coherence, and individual adjustment in samples of diverse cultural backgrounds.

Does Mindfulness Moderate the Link of Worry About COVID-19 With Adjustment? An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model Approach.

Objectives: COVID-19 constitutes an unprecedented mental health challenge to the world. At this critical time, it is important to identify factors that may boost individuals' well-being or render individuals more resistant to the negative impact of COVID-19-related stressors. The goals of this study were to examine whether individuals' and their partners' worry about COVID-19 were linked to individuals' psychological, social, and cognitive adjustment and test individuals' and their partners' mindfulness as possible moderators. Methods: Cross-sectional, dyadic data were collected from 211 Chinese couples with kindergarten-aged children living in Hong Kong, China, during its fourth major outbreak of COVID-19 (between December 2020 and January 2021). Using paper-and-pencil questionnaires, fathers and mothers independently reported their worry about COVID-19, mindfulness, depressive symptoms, social difficulties, and cognitive problems. Results: Actor-Partner-Interdependence Models revealed that, controlling for individuals' gender and education levels, individuals' worry about COVID-19 and mindfulness were positively and negatively associated with their own depressive symptoms, social difficulties, and cognitive problems, respectively. The worry of individuals' partners was also positively associated with individuals' depressive symptoms and social difficulties. These associations, however, were only significant when the partners had low but not high levels of mindfulness. Conclusions: Our study highlighted the importance of studying the potential benefits of mindfulness at not only the individual but also the dyadic level.

Linking maternal involvement in child online learning to child adjustment during the COVID-19 pandemic: The moderating role of maternal mindfulness.

In the face of COVID-19, many schools have to educate their students using online activities. During this time, whether and how parents are involved may be of particular importance for young children-who are less able to learn independently via the Internet due to their developmental immaturity. Therefore, this study examined the cross-sectional association of maternal involvement in child online learning with child adjustment during the COVID-19 pandemic and tested maternal mindfulness as a moderator. Data were collected from 236 mothers of kindergarten-aged children (mean age = 55.91 months; 75% of them were girls) during the fourth wave of COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong, China. Using paper-and-pencil questionnaires, mothers rated their involvement and mindfulness and their children's pre-academic ability and internalizing and externalizing behaviors and provide demographic information. Regression models revealed that maternal involvement was associated positively with child pre-academic ability and negatively with child internalizing behaviors, but such associations were only significant for children with more mindful mothers. Maternal mindfulness did not moderate the negative association between maternal involvement and child externalizing behaviors. Findings highlighted the role of maternal mindfulness in child development, suggesting that it may be crucial to promote maternal involvement and mindfulness during the pandemic and perhaps beyond.

Risk Perception, Perception of Collective Efficacy and Sleep Quality in Chinese Adults during COVID-19 Pandemic in Hong Kong: A Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: Only a few studies have studied the link between risk perception and sleep in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of our study is to propose and test a theoretical model to understand the relationships between COVID-19 risk appraisals-risk perception and perception of collective coordinated defense (PCCD) in particular-and subjective sleep quality in Chinese adults in Hong Kong during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19-related fear and rumination were examined as potential mediators of the relationships. METHODS: Data were collected using a self-report online questionnaire from a convenience sample of 224 Chinese adults during the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong. RESULTS: Risk perception and PCCD were found to predict poor sleep quality. Mediation analysis showed that both fear and rumination mediated the relationship between risk perception and sleep quality, whereas only fear mediated the relationship between PCCD and sleep quality. The model was an excellent fit to the data and accounted for 44% of the variance in sleep quality in Chinese adults. This study indicated that both perception of high risks of contracting COVID-19 and anticipations of collective disease preventive efforts had adverse effects on subjective sleep quality via increasing COVID-19-related fear. CONCLUSIONS: These findings underscore the need for addressing sleep problems induced by psychological consequences of the pandemic. While policy makers often deliver public messaging campaigns that frame disease prevention as a collective goal, developing evidence-based coping strategies to combat COVID-19 adverse impacts on psychological health is equally important.

University Students' Perceived Peer Support and Experienced Depressive Symptoms during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediating Role of Emotional Well-Being.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has adversely affected individuals' mental health. Social isolation as a result of social distancing during the pandemic potentially affects the associations among perceived available peer support, emotional well-being, and depression in university students. The present study examined the associations among university students' perceived available peer support, emotional well-being (as indicated negatively by loneliness and negative affects and positively by positive affects and hope), and depressive symptoms. During the third wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in July, 2020, 255 students at a public university in Hong Kong participated in an online-based survey that assessed their perceived available peer support, emotional well-being, and depressive symptoms. Results showed that perceived available peer support negatively contributed to depressive symptoms; both negative and positive indicators of emotional well-being mediated the association between perceived available peer support and depressive symptoms. Our results also suggested that university students showed signs of elevated depressive symptoms during the pandemic. Thus, our study advanced the theoretical understanding of university students' mental health in the time of a global pandemic. Our study also highlighted the practical needs for preventive efforts and accessible care to support the psychological and emotional needs of young people during the COVID-19 pandemic.